About me
Arundhati Baitmangalkar is one of the most recognized yoga teachers in the country today. Born and raised in South India, Aru's formal training runs deep and traditional: she studied in Mysore and Bangalore, India, including under senior disciples of B.K.S. Iyengar, grounding her practice in classical, lineage-based instruction rather than a Westernized or trend-driven approach.
Today, Aru is the founder and lead teacher of Aham Yoga in Redmond, WA, now in its 13th+ year. Her mission is simple and non-negotiable: elevate the standard of yoga education by keeping it authentically rooted in its origins — precise, well-sourced, and taught with real pedagogical rigor. (She's also a former professional Bollywood dancer and runs BollyWorks, a Bollywood dance studio, on the side.)
Aru is the creator and host of Let's Talk Yoga, a podcast ranking in the top 5% globally, with over 1 million downloads and listeners in 200+ countries. Through the podcast and her teacher trainings, she offers continuing education to yoga students and teachers worldwide, tackling subjects other yoga media shy away from — cultural appropriation, primary-text scholarship, pranayama and what it actually takes to teach yoga well.
Her work has been featured in Yoga Journal and Yoga International, and she was named one of Yoga Journal's "Yoga Teachers Who Made a Profound Difference" for her straight-talk approach to bridging traditional teachings with contemporary practice. She has also been recognized among the top 20 yoga teachers of color to watch by Yogawalla, and Aham Yoga has received an Expertise Award for Best Yoga Studio. With 20+ years of teaching experience across Hatha, Ashtanga Vinyasa, Iyengar, Restorative, Therapeutic Yoga, and Pranayama, Aru blends classical rigor with a teaching style tailored to each student — never diluting the tradition to make it trendier.
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